The Santee-Wateree Mental Health Center (SWMHC) is the face of public mental health in the local community. Outpatient mental health services are provided in clinics in its four-county catchment area: a clinic in Camden serves Kershaw County; one in Bishopville serves Lee County; one in Sumter serves Sumter County; and one in Manning serves Clarendon County.
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Our mission is to support the recovery of people with
mental illnesses within our communities of Sumter, Clarendon, Kershaw, and
Lee Counties. (more)

A Message from our Executive Director

Our agency name, Santee-Wateree, is derived from the names of two of
the beautiful rivers that, on their winding trip to the Atlantic
Ocean, flow through one or more of the counties we serve. The rivers
took their names from two of the many tribes of indigenous people
who once flourished in the woodlands and “Low Country” areas that we
call home. As a South Carolinian of mixed Native American heritage,
that makes our name very special to me personally.

The many
compassionate, well trained staff members of Santee Wateree are what
REALLY make our agency special! They are our greatest asset. We are
also fortunate to be part of a much larger system, the South
Carolina Department of Mental Health, which provides us with access
to many resources which make it possible for us to provide the very
best in an impressive array of outpatient services. Our Center IS
the face of public mental health in four counties. In most locations
we are the largest mental health treatment provider and in some we
are essentially the only provider available. We take our
responsibilities to the community seriously.

Our mission is simple –
to support the recovery of persons with mental illness in the part
of the state where we are located. As we continually strive to be all that we can be as treatment
professionals, we also want to help every client who comes through our doors to bloom where
they are planted, to enjoy the fullest and richest recovery
possible. Whether you are a person seeking assistance to recover from a mental illness, a
family member seeking resources for a loved one, or a professional
looking for an exciting and progressive place to work, we hope
you’ll find this website helpful. Thank you for visiting and please
don’t hesitate to contact us if you think we can help!

A Message from our Medical Director

Welcome to our website! We invite you to browse through the provided information to familiarize
yourself with the comprehensive mental health outpatient services we offer
to our local community. We serve over 3500 clients in four different counties:Sumter, Kershaw, Clarendon and Lee County.
We work diligently and tirelessly to help our clients with serious
mental illness recover and live happy and successful lives.
Our goal in working with our clients is to help them achieve recovery, while
treating them with the dignity and respect they deserve. We, as treatment providers, recognize that an individual is as much a
product of their genetics as they are of their environment.Therefore, we use the bio-psycho-social model of therapy in our
multi-disciplinary treatment, providing our clients with the appropriate
combination of counseling and/or medications.

We
hope that you find our website helpful in your search for information about
our Agency.